If we want to change our life, we often make big efforts at the start but slowly fall back into old patterns not much later. We decide that we want to reach this big goal and are super motivated in the beginning, but that fades away quickly and then we’re back where we started…
Atomic Habits by James Clear provides a clear solution, with four easy rules for building good habits and breaking bad ones. We will provide you with a summary of the entire book and dive deep into the most important rules and tips shared by James. Make sure you stick around till the end of this summary where a secret lesson for sticking to your good habits is shared.
We all have our habits, both good and bad, but how do we get rid of bad habits and take up the challenge of building a good one? We often think that massive success requires massive action. But instead, small improvements on a daily basis, can compound to big results in the future. When you can just get 1% better each day, your results will be 37 times better at the end of the year! Therefore, you should focus on little efforts over a long period of time, instead of big short term efforts.
It is much said that to achieve something in life, you should set goals. However, focusing on your systems is a much better way to progress in life. If your goal is to run a marathon, your system would be how often you practice. Goals set a direction, but systems are best for making progress to get there. Systems are incorporated in your day to day life, and therefore make it easier for you to reach a goal.
There are two main reasons why we fail to take on new habits and break with old ones that don’t serve us:
1. We try to change the wrong thing
2. we try to change our habits in the wrong way
There are three layers that play a part in change. A change in outcomes, processes and a person’s identity. Outcomes are about what you get: your results. Processes are about what you do: your habits and systems. Identity is about what you believe. The key is to focus on identity-based habits: focus on who you wish to become instead of what you want to achieve! Your habits and systems will get you there. Believe in the person you wish to become and proudly perform the habits that go with that.
To change your behavior, you first need to become aware of your current habits. An easy practice to become more aware of your daily habits is to write down all of them and score them as good, neutral or bad. Which habits would you like to keep up and which ones would you be better off without?
Once you are aware of the habits you would like to change, a new habit can be built in only four simple steps: you have to make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. You are much more likely to eat an apple if it sits in a fruit basket on your dinner table rather than tucked away in your fridge. That’s the first step, making it obvious. Environment plays an important part in the shaping of your behavior. When you are in a particular setting, you get cues that remind you to take a certain action. As mentioned, when you see your fruit basket, you are reminded to get your daily portion of vitamins. Time is also an important cue for habits. Every night at around 6 or 7 PM you are reminded to have your dinner.
By creating an intention implementation, you incorporate both time and location into taking on a new habit. As a result, you will be more likely to stick to that habit. An example of an intention implementation is:
“I will read a book (the habit) at 9 PM (time) in my bed (location).”
A helpful trick is to stick the new habit to an already existing habit! For example, do some meditation immediately after you brush your teeth every night.
So, to learn a new good habit, you firstly have to “make it obvious.” But how to get rid of a bad one? The inversion of the 1st Law of Behavior Change is to “make it invisible”. Remove the cues of your bad habits out of your environment. Temptation plays a very big part in the formation of behaviors. People with high levels of self-control tend to stay away from temptation and play it safe rather than getting into a position to resist it. The best way to eliminate a bad habit is to stay completely away from its cues. So hide away those unhealthy snacks!
The second law is to make the habit attractive. You need to desire the result the habit brings. I often don’t feel like making my bed, but I do crave the comforting feeling of sleeping in a clean bed. This craving brings the motivation to conduct the habit and so, to make my bed. You can also cheat a little bit here, by pairing an action you want to do with an action you need to do. For example, first doing your homework (this is what you need to do) and after, watching some Netflix (this is what you want to do).
The inversion of the 2nd Law of Behavior Change is to “make it unattractive”. You should highlight the negative aspects of a bad habit to yourself, to make it seem unattractive. This way, you will reframe your mindset for the better. A prediction leads to a feeling, and that feeling leads to different outcomes…
The third rule is to make your habit easy, that is: easy enough for your current ability. Because a habit can only occur if you are capable of doing it… The more you repeat the habit, the easier it will become. You can also make your habits a bit easier by removing any friction and priming your environment. For example, if you want to work-out more, start by just doing a work-out at home and lay out your gym clothes the night before. This way, you won’t have to overcome the struggles of picking an outfit or riding your bike to the gym.
Procrastination is a major problem for many people, but it can be put to a stop by a simple method: the two-minute rule. The two-minute rule states that a new habit can only take up two minutes of your time. But how can you read 100 pages of a book or run a mile in only two minutes? Well, you can’t. But you can, however, pick up a book off of your nightstand and read just one page in two minutes… or lay out your running shoes and step outside. Those easy steps will be your new habits, the rest of the action will follow. Standardization is more important than optimization. You first need to make sure the habits sticks, before you can polish them. You need to master the art of showing up!
The inversion of the third Law of Behavior Change is to “make it difficult”. This means increasing the friction with your bad habits. So, if you tend to stay in bed too long in the morning, set a couple of extra alarms until you get fed up with turning them off and get out of bed.
Lastly, the habit needs to be satisfying: the habit has to come with a reward. Rewards bring us satisfaction, which makes us want to repeat the habit. Rewards also teach the brain which actions are worth remembering in the future. If the reward fails to satisfy your desire, then you’ll have no reason to do it again in the future. We tend to repeat habits that bring us immediate rewards, rather than delayed rewards. That’s why it’s important to incorporate an immediate reward in your new habit: it can be as simple as complimenting yourself for getting the task done. Even the slightest of positive responses can make big changes. To break with your bad habits, make sure to make them unsatisfying by focusing on the negative consequences they bring in the future.
Once you have successfully built a new habit with these four easy steps, it’s important to stick to them. To help achieve this, here are some final helpful tips.
Firstly, you can mark the days you performed the habit on a calendar. This way, you will be inclined to stick with the task to keep up your streak. If you do fail to conduct your task, make sure you don’t miss out more than twice. Get back on track as quickly as possible to recover the progress made.
Another helpful tip to make sure you stick to your habits, is to appoint an accountability partner. If you and your friend both want to stop smoking for example, you can help each other by holding each other accountable. An accountability partner is one of the best ways to stop a bad habit, since we all tend to care about what others think of us…
We will end this summary with a crucial lesson, which may well be the most important takeaway from this whole summary. The Goldilocks Rule states that you perform best in the activities that are right at the edge of their abilities. We want to be challenged and tend to get bored of tasks that are too easy and don’t give us an opportunity to improve anymore. However, the key to sticking to good habits that bring us compounded results over time is to keep yourself motivated, and do the task, even if it gets repetitive and boring. Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way…
I hope you now all have the tools to take on some new good habits. Let me know in the comments which technique for habit building your going to use first! Thanks for reading!
https://youtu.be/YgK6FSA5e0Y?si=Qmck3Hw0xba-Mzr0
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